Anger after death of pregnant woman
Thousands of Poles demonstrate against abortion ban
6/15/2023 2:56 am
A 20-week pregnant woman dies of sepsis in Poland. According to her family, her death could have been avoided if doctors had removed the fetus. The latest incident of this kind is driving thousands of Polish women onto the streets against the current abortion ban.
In the Polish capital of Warsaw, several thousand people protested on Wednesday against the country’s almost total abortion ban, which they blame for the death of a pregnant 33-year-old. Women’s rights organizations organized rallies in more than 50 Polish towns and villages, with protesters shouting “shame” and carrying photos of the late Dorota Lalik.
Lalik died on May 24 in a hospital in Nowy Targ, southern Poland – three days after losing her amniotic fluid. According to her family, the 33-year-old died of sepsis caused by the death of her 20-week-old fetus in her abdomen. The existing law allows an abortion in case of danger to the life of the pregnant woman. But critics say the rules are so strict that doctors are afraid to abort.
“Everything is political when you’re a woman in Poland”
Lalik’s family accuses the hospital of not having initiated the necessary investigation in time – nor having informed them that Lalik was in mortal danger. “No one mentioned that they could have caused a miscarriage and saved Dorota because the baby’s chances of survival were slim,” Lalik’s husband Marcin told the Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper. Prosecutors opened an investigation into Lalik’s death. Also in two similar deaths of pregnant women in the hospital is determined.
When asked about the impact of the restrictive abortion law, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki warned against “politicizing” the case of Dorota Lalik. Katarzyna Kotula, MP for the left-liberal Wiosna party demonstrating in Warsaw on Wednesday, said: “Everything is political when you’re a woman in Poland. Because of political decisions, women are dying in Polish hospitals – and others are just afraid of getting pregnant.”